


ON THE 



^IFE AND ChARACTEI^ ^^f^ 
J ' 

OF 

LLiAM F. Love 



Feb. 35-March 2, 1899 




(:t,.s^<-.6if: 



lliiok^ 



""WS 



% 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



H 



(Late a Kei'Kesentative fk<»m Mism^sipi-i), 



DKl.IVKRKU IN HIV. 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE, 



CU ' F I F T V- F I F T H CON C. R F S S , 

" Third Session. 



WASHINGTON: 

r. O V E K N M K N T I' R I N T I N G O F !■ I r E . 
1S99. 






AUG 6 I90ti 
D.orO. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Proceedings in the House 5 

Memorial address by — 

Mr. Ai,l,EN S 

Mr. Fox " 

Mr. Gardner '3 

Mr. BOTKIN i6 

Mr. Spight iS 

Mr. McLain 20 

Mr. Catchings 25 

Mr. Wii,i,iams 29 

Mr. Henry 3^ 

Mr. Fergusson 35 

Proceedings in the Senate 37 

Memorial address by — 

Mr. Money 39 

Mr. Berry 43 

Mr. Pasco 45 

Mr. TuRLEY 49 

Mr. Sui-LiVAN 51 



Death of William F, Love, 



Proceedings in the House, 

December 6, 1898. 

Mr. Henry, of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, pending the con- 
sideration of the resoUition offered by the gentleman from 
Ohio, I desire to offer the resohition which I send to the 
Clerk's desk. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

The House of Representatives has heard with profound 
sorrow that the Hon. William F. Love, a Representative 
from the Sixth Congressional district of the vState of Mis.sis- 
sippi, died at his home in Gloster, Miss., on October 16, 1898: 
Therefore, be it 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the 
late Representative the House will hereafter set apart a suit- 
able time for the eulogies upon the life and character of the 
said deceased- 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory 
of the said Representative the Hou.se do now adjourn. ' 

Ordered, That the Clerk communicate the resolutions to the 
Senate. 

The Speaker. Without objection, the resolutions will be 
considered together. 



6 Life and Character of JJl'l/iaiii F. Love. 

The resolutions were considered and ag^reed to. 

The Speaker. In pursuance of the resolutions just adopted, 
and as a further mark of respect to the deceased, the House 
stands adjourned until 12 o'clock to-morrow. 

Accordingl}', at 12 o'clock and 27 minutes p. m., the House 
adjourned. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES. 

February 25, 1899. 

Mr. Allen. Mr. Speaker, I present the following resolution 
under the special order of the House. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the resolution to the 
House. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Whereas the House of Representatives has heard with pro- 
found sorrow of the death of the Hon. E. C. Walthall, late a 
Senator of the United States from the State of Mississippi, and 
also of the death of Hon. W. F. Love, late a member of this 
House from the State of Missis.sippi: Therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the Ijusiness of the House be now suspended 
that opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory of the 
late Senator E. C. Walthall and of the late Representative 
W. F. Love, and as a particular mark of respect to the memory 
of the late Senator Walth.\ll and the late Representative Lo\':E, 
and in recognition of their eminent abilities and distinguished 
public services, the House, at the conclu.sion of these memorial 
proceedings, shall .stand adjourned. 

That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the family 
of the late Senator W.-^lthall and the family of the late Rep- 
resentative LovE; and 

That the Clerk be ordered to communicate these resolutions 
to the Senate. 

The re.solutions were unanimously agreed to. 



Life and Character of William F. Love. 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Allen. 

Mr. Speaker, I have kuown Mr. Love for some j'ears. I 
knew him as a member or the legislature and a member of the 
State senate of Mississippi, uot intimately- at all, but I knew 
the esteem and high regard that his colleagues in both of those 
bodies had for him. He had taken the high stand for indus- 
try, honesty, and faithful service in those bodies of which his 
short service here gave so much promise. I watched his career 
with some interest. 

I saw him elected to the Fifty- fifth Congress. When he 
came here, with all the embarrassment that surrounds the aver- 
age new member, he took his assignments on committees, went 
to work, and by his industry, his close attention to the duties of 
his position, he was fast winning his way to a place of great 
usefulness and prominence in this House. 

He seemed from the very first to ha\-e the correct idea as to 
how to make himself a useful member of this House and a use- 
ful servant of his people. He did not want anything to go on 
here without his knowing something about it, and by close 
application and diligent inquiry, meeting and working with his 
committees and understanding all they did by close attention 
to the business assigned to him, and then attending regularly 
the sessions of the Hou.se and being in his seat and keeping up 
with what is going on, he was very fast familiarizing himself 
with the methods of legislation here. Very few new members 
who come to this House gave more promi.se of usefulness than 
did Mr. LovE. 

After his service in the first two sessions of the Fifty-fifth 
Congress I was invited to his home town. Just a few days 
before he was taken sick I spent a day there, almost all of which 



^ 



Address of Mr. Allen of Mississippi. 9 

v.-as spent in his company. I met a very large concourse of 
people. I learned in his association with them, in his apparent 
thorough knowledge of them, and their great respect for him, 
something of the hold he had upon the affections and confidence 
of his constituency. 

There was a large meeting in the town of Gloster, where he 
was living at the time of his death, and where he died, and I 
was very much impressed with the thorough and cordial rela- 
tions existing between Mr. LovE and those people with whom 
he lived. He had been renominated without oppo.sition, and 
would ha\-e been elected almost as unanimoush- if he had li\-ed. 
It was bad for the State, it was bad for the people, that a man 
who gave promise of a useful career, who had scarcely reached 
the meridian of life, should be taken off as he was. 

I left him in good spirits, in apparently good health, enjoy- 
ing all the happiness that belongs to a man of his happy 
domestic relations and the thorough confidence of his neighbors 
and constituents. A few days after I left him I noticed in the 
newspapers an account of his .serious illness. This continued 
for some time, and then, a little more than a month from the 
time he and I were together, he passed over the river. We all 
mourn him. 

Mr. Speaker, I did not enjoy an intimate acquaintance with 
Mr. Love before he came here ; but when I came to know him 
well we became good friends, and I came to be \-er\- fond of 
him. I had come to appreciate his worth and had come to 
know of the many sterling qualities he posses.sed, and I will 
always be of those who loved him and who will ever cherish 
pleasant memories of him. 

I recognize that in his death this House sustained a great 
loss, our delegation one of its most promising and useful mem- 
bers, and the State of Mississippi one of its best citizens and 



lo Life and Character of ]]'illia»i F. Love. 

one of its most trusted and useful public sen^ants. His family 
and friends have sustained an irreparable loss, for he was a 
true, faithful, and affectionate husband, a loving and tender 
father, and a friend who could be trusted under anj- and all 
circumstances. As there are others to speak, I will not detain 
the House longer. 



Address of Mr. Fox of Mississippi. 1 1 

ADDRESS OF MR. FOX, 

Mr. Speaker, I think I am fortunate in having known 
William Franklix Love. He is dead, but hi.s influence 
still lives. No higher tribute can be paid to his meniory 
than to sa\- that everyone was better for having known him. 
I knew him well, and in all the relations of life I have never 
known a man who met and discharged every duty, public and 
private, more courageously and conscientiously. He shirked 
no duty or responsibility. 

The modest biography in the Congressional Directory tells 
an eloquent story of a life of honor, industry, and usefulness. 
He was elected to the legislature of his State when just old 
enough to be eligible. He continued to be a member of that 
political body for eighteen yeans — ten years in the house and 
eight in the senate. While in the senate he filled the respon- 
sible and important position of chairman of the committee on 
finance. He was also a member of the constitutional con\en- 
tion of the State of Missis.sippi in 1.S90, and took a prominent 
part in the delilierations of that memoral^le body, which was 
composed of the foremost men in Mississippi, men who brought 
all their brains and patriotism to the solution of the greatest 
political problem that ever confronted any body of statesmen. 

Mr. Love brought to the service of his country as a Congress- 
man all his long experience and training as a legislator, which 
enabled him at once to take a prominent position in this body. 
It was a wise selection when the vSpeaker concluded to appoint 
Mr. Love as a member of the Committee on the Post-Office and 
Post-Roads. He at once addres.sed himself conscientiously and 
industriously to the arduous work of that great committee, and 
his well-trained business ability enabled him to take a conspicu- 
ous place in that work. 



12 Life and Character of JJ'/'/fiani F. Love. 

No man ever was or could be more conscientious in the dis- 
charge of his public duties. His idea was that his people had 
employed him to represent them, and that it was his duty to 
remain in his seat from noon, when the House of Representa- 
tives met, until it adjourned, watching carefully and intelli- 
gently all the proceedings in the House. Although a new 
member, he was always alert, and thought that his own respon- 
sibility to the country was as great as that of any other mem- 
ber; and he was right. 

No man was more loyal or true in all personal relations of 
life, especially to his family or to his friends. He was fortiuiate 
and happy in having a loving and accomplished wife and a 
brilliant and charming daughter, to whom he was devoted and 
for whom he lived; and they in return gave all their purest and 
best affections to lighten the burdens of his laborious life. 
And, Mr. Speaker, he was worthy of it; and that is the highest 
tribute that can be paid any man. 



Address of Mr. Gardner of Neu) Jersey. 13 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Gardner. 

Mr. Speaker, it is true of most of the children of men that 
the memory of them fades at the close of their day, even as the 
brief afterglow vanishes from the sunset sky. Their names 
and the dates upon which they enter and leave the world may 
be cut in marble. That world has room for no ampler pa.i^e. 

We devote this hour to writing in the annals of his country 
something of the hfe and work of Wii.i.i.vM Franklin Love, 
of Mississippi, whose valuable and conspicuous public service 
began with his manhood and ended at his bier. 

Very much that was most worthy in liis life, as in all lives, 
must be lost. But if his known ambition to perform high 
public tasks, his constant aim to point worthy and inspiring 
models, his high ideals of public service, are taken as utter- 
ances of his solicitude for the political and social welfare of 
the people whom he served, we .shall, if only partially, still the 
better understand the man. 

It is true that I had not the advantage of a long personal 
acqaiutance with Mr. LovE, yet I knew him long and well 
enough to enable me in .some degree to appreciate his sterling 
worth. When he entered the Fifty-fourth Congress he was 
assigned to one of the committees on which I had the honor to 
serve. I early observed the conscientious devotion of his ener- 
gies to the tasks before him, his integrity of mind, his high 
purpose, his habit of seeking foundation fact and invoking right 
reason for his conclu.sions. He seemed always disposed to test 
both political and moral iiuestions by the higher law of effect. 
Indeed, he soon impressed me as at once the embodiment and 
exemplar of a code of lofty moral and civic conduct. In mat- 
ters to be determined by the right and the wrong, the just and 



14 f^ife oii^ Cliaractcr of William F. Love. 

the doubtful elements, he might well remind one of the line of 
South: "Such grand exemplars as make their own abilities the 
sole measure of what is fit or unfit." 

Kindness and sympathy were as manifest in his intercourse as 
stern regard for dut>' and robust sense of justice. The former 
made him approachable and interested in his fellow-men, the 
latter unyielding and swift in pursuit of the right. 

By inquiry into his record in the State of Mississippi I was 
glad to find my estimate of the man confirmed. It had been 
long entertained by the people whom he had served. 

At home he seemed to have risen above all factional differ- 
ences and local strife, and stood preeminently the man in whom 
public confidence centered. Local disputes left his standing 
unaffected "as the rock that lifts its head above the troubled 
waters and remains unshaken by the causes that agitate them." 
For eighteen years he had been in one or the other branch of 
the State legislature, discharging there and elsewhere the most 
responsible and delicate trusts, the popular approval being 
manifested by again and ahva>s reimposing public trusts — the 
.same or greater. 

So long and satisfactory public service for a discriminating 
constituency is the result of neither chance nor favor, but of 
sterling qualities of mind and of spirit, tireless effort to ascer- 
tain the right and courage to do it whenever duty requires 
action. I learned enough of Mr. LovE to see that such was 
the secret of his success. F'ven the doubting nuist see a saving 
grace in the choice of public servants when men of his mold, 
full of honor and experience and of known purpose, are retained 
and transferred to wider fields of action, as he was to the halls 
of national legislation. 

The loss uf a man so worthy from public ox jirivate life means 
nuich. Thai in Mr. T.ovK which at once challenged our 



Address of Mr. Gardner of Neiv Jersey. 15 

admiration was his exalted character; it was his fortress and 
best equipment. Here, if time permitted, we could not dwell 
too long. Character such as his must give us our worthy 
representative men and make up the sum of our national 
security and progress. Unless it predominates our public con- 
cerns, nothing remains on which to base a hope for the future. 
Controlled by its infltience, the future will be secure. Without 
it arsenals and guns are no guaranty of long national life. 

Had length of days been given Mr. Lo\tj, he would, by 
reason of his rectitude, of jDerfect integrity of purpose, of 
uns\ver\-ing adherence to lines dictated by an enlightened con- 
science, of industry in mastering detail, and zeal for accompHsh- 
ing that which he conceived the public good required, have 
retained and enlarged the esteem of his constituency, and this 
House, slow perhaps to percei\-e but ever ready to recognize 
and to utilize true worth, would, upon fuller opporttmity, have 
accorded him honors fitting his great merit. But length of 
days was not for him. 

The Lord of Life so orbited his sun 

That ev'ning's shadows fell just when his noontide shone 
On widened fields. With new tasks scarce begtin. 

He heard the whisper "Rest, your work is done." 



i6 Life and Character of U'i/Iiaiii F. Love. 



ADDRESS OF Mr. BOTKIN. 

Mr. Speaker, I desire a moment in which to offer a brief 
but sincere tribute to the memory of one whose untimely 
death has closed an earnest and successful career. 

Among the compensating features of Congressional life are 
the new and valued friendships formed. From the drudgery 
of committee and department work and from the noisy strife 
of House debate one finds restful relief in association with 
the many earnest and manly members of this body from the 
different parts of our country. 

One of the first and rarest .spirits with whom I had the 
honor and pleasure to become acqtiainted upon my entrance 
into Congress two years ago was the Hon. W. F. LovE. 
Early in our acquaintance we had occasion to enjoy a some- 
what extended trip together. It was such a journey as fur- 
nished an opportiuiity for a complete unbending from the 
strain of official duties and as might have led a man less 
self-contained into some degree of social excess. But the man 
we mourn to-day constantly maintained the same genial, self- 
poised, orderly conduct .so usual with him in his home life. 

From that time to the clo.se of the .second session our 
acquaintance became more and more intimate, even ripening 
into a friendship at once warm and enduring. I had learned 
to tru.st and love the man, and the news of his death filled 
me with a sense of deep and personal lo.ss. 

Mr. Love gave earnest and conscientious attention to all 
the duties imposed upon him by membership in this body, 
Always at his post, and ever alert fc^r opportunities in depart- 
ment, in committee, and in this Chamber to serve his con.stit- 



Address of Mr. B oik in of Kansas. 17 

uents and his country, few men attain to so high a measure 
of usefuhiess in so brief a period of time. 

The deceased was a Christian gentleman, demonstrating 
that even in the pubhc service one may be a good man in 
the highest sense. In his hfe at the capital of the nation, 
with its abounding distractions and temptations, he exempli- 
fied the religion of Jesus, whose servant he was. 

It is my pleasure to say that the average standard of 
morals in the, American Congress is nuich higher than I had 
been led to suppose. The lives and characters of such men 
as W. F. Love very materially elevate this general average 
and augment the sum of integrity, of sincerity, and of worth. 

A devoted hu.sband, a kind father, a sincere friend, an 
upright citizen, a u.seful public servant, a manly man has gone 
from us. May we emulate his example and may Heaven's 
blessings rest upon his family. 



H. Doc. 273- 



1 8 Life and Characler of Williaui F. Love. 



Address of Mr. Spight. 

Mr. Speaker, these memorial occasions, of which there ha\-e 
already been several during this short session of Congress, 
remind us that " death is no respecter of persons;" that he puts 
his sickle into the council halls of the nation as well as into 
the homes of the private citizen. They should also remind 
us that "it is not all of life to live, nor all of death to die." 

If the life here is right, then death is not oblivion and forget- 
fulness, but is only a change in the form and duration of 
existence: a putting off of mortality and a putting on of im- 
mortality; an exchange of a state of being full of perplexity 
and sorrow and suffering for one full of perfect peace, happi- 
ness, and rest. For the Christian who has built upon "the 
firm foundation," death has no terrors. Such an one might 
well wish, for the sake of loved ones left behind, that his days 
on earth might be prolonged, but is nevertheless ready to sa>-, 
"Thy will Ije done." 

Of a man of this character, I come to say a word to-day. 

I shall leave to others an outline of his life, and shall speak 
briefly of my personal acquaintance with him, and the impres- 
sions his character made upon me. 

I first knew \Villi.\m F. Love in 1878, when he and I were 
members of the Mississippi legi.slature. I learned then to ap- 
preciate his noble qualities and to know something of the prin- 
ciples which animated and characterized his whole life. 

He did not possess the too often fatal gift of brilliancy, but 
instead nature had endowed him with .sound judgment, an 
honest heart, fixed purposes, and zeal in the performance of 
every duty. Of the.se qualities the most u.seful men are made. 
Mr. Love was faithful to every trust, public and private, and 



Address of Mr. Spight of Mississippi. 19 

all his actions were prompted by a determiuatiou to do right, 
and a desire for that which would accomplish the greatest good. 

Above all things else, he was a Christian gentleman, who 
carried his religion into his business, and no enterprise which 
was in conflict with the divine law and an enlightened con- 
science could secure his approval; and no matter what the al- 
lurements he had the courage to say ' ' No " to every wrong. 
In his death there was a loss to his country and to his friends, 
but more than all a loss to his family, who loved and appreci- 
ated him as no others could: but the God whom he tru.sted will 
care for and bless them. 

Happy the man who, when hi.s lift-work is ended, can lie 
down to rest in the consciousness of duty well done, and in 
his last moments say, with Job, "I know that my Redeemer 
liveth." 

Mr. Love's work on earth is ended, but he did not live in 
vain. I do not agree to the literal .sense of that couplet: 

The evil that men do lives after them; 
The good is oft interred with their bones. 

But rather with that other familiar sentiment: 

Lives of great men all remind us 

We can make our lives sublime. 
And, departing, leave behind us 

Footprints on the sands of time. 

The world is better for Mr. Love's having lived in it, and 

his good deeds and elevating influences can not be lost, but will 

continue to bear fruit to the glory of God and the good of 

mankind long after his body has crumbled into its native dust. 

It was not said in vain — 

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, * * * that they may 
rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. 



20 Life and Character of William F. Lo7)e. 



ADDRESS OF Mr. McLAIN. 

Mr. Speaker, we have assembled, in obedience to a resolution 
of this body, to express our appreciation of the life and services 
of the Hon. W. F. L,ovE. As a citizen of his native State and 
successor to him in this honorable body, I esteem it a privilege 
to offer a tribute of respect to his memory. 

This time-honored custom of Congress, in setting a day apart 
to paj' tribute of respect to a deceased member, has a chaste 
and pathetic significance. It is sweet and hallowing in its ten- 
dencies, though an eloquent reminder of the certainty of death. 
On these occasions the fragrant flowers of friendship gather 
around us, filling our souls with the purest of thoughts. Yes, 
it softens our characters, touching every chord of the lieart 
with its hallowed remembrances. 

Tender thoughts come trooping upon us, calling up the fond- 
est memories of life, and throw open the door of the heart to 
the entrance of the richest flow of thought. To feel conscious 
that after death we shall be pleasantly remembered robs the 
grave of some of its terrors. God implanted this desire in the 
human breast to spur us on to noble efforts, reaping as a reward 
an honored name. 

I dare say, Mr. Speaker, no State in the Union has suffered 
so greatly by death in the Fifty-fifth Congress as the State of 
Mississippi, having lost one-third of her delegation on the floor 
of Congre.ss: First, the matchless George; next, the peerless 
Walthall, and la.stly, the noble and promising W. F. LovE. 

Fain would we delay our coming fate, but when the heaven-born gale 
doth blow we must embark. 

I will briefly relate the chief features in the life of the Hon. 
W. F. Lovic. In performing this duly it affords me pleasure 



Address of Mr. McLain of Mississippi. 2 1 

to say I knew him intimately and thorouglil}'. He was my 
neighbor and my friend. I shall paint him as he was, or at 
least as he appeared to me. At the very threshold of this 
undertaking I feel somewhat embarrassed. I feel and know 
that man}- features of his .splendid character and the many gems 
that crowned his daily walks are not known to you as to me, 
his stay with you being too brief for it to fully develop and 
impress you with all of its power and true worth. 

I shall not detain the House with an extended biographical 
sketch of his life. He was born in 1850, in the county of 
Amite — the county that he ser\.-ed so long with such marked 
ability. On the evening of the i6th of October, 1898, at his 
home in Gloster, Mi.ss., after a long and continuous attack of 
typhoid fever, " God's finger touched him, and he slept." He 
was born and reared on a farm near Libert}^ Miss. His envi- 
ronments were such as to compel him to engage in all the labor 
and drudgery of a farm life until he reached his full manhood. 
In this school of toil was doubtless the seeding place of that 
grand success that crowned his after life. 

It was here that he became so thoroughly in touch with the 
toiling masses and acquired such great sympathy for them. In 
this field of toil he advanced patiently and deliberately. He did 
not become discouraged from these surroundings, but bravely 
pressed on with fortitude and courage, and soon took deep root 
in the community where he lived; and in the grand sweep of 
things his honors came thick, fast, and continuous. In this 
school of toil his educational advantages were limited, though 
he managed to acquire a fair education. Having passed 
through such a curriculum, he entered upon politics. His 
entrance into this new field was sudden, and not of any pre- 
meditated seeking or preparation. 

In 1876 and for some time prior he was an active member of 



22 Life and Character of Willia^n F. Love. 

the Grange, a farmers' organization. His friends soon dis- 
covered that in him lay great worth. They recognized and 
honored his sterling qualities by electing him in 1877 to the 
legislature of his native State, a position that he held continu- 
ously, barring one term, until he entered the Halls of Congress. 
During his legislative career additional honors were showered 
upon him by an admiring constituency by his being elected 
in 1890 as a delegate to the constitutional convention of the 
State. 

He was ambitious, but it was of a high and worthy character. 
His political life was marked by wonderful energy, purity of 
character, and rapid progress — rising as he did from the 
humble walks of life to the highest honors in the gift of his 
people. He was a strong debater and had few superiors as a 
stump speaker. In his political and private Hfe he carefully 
cultivated those virtues which so gracefully adorn the character 
of a Christian gentleman. Excellency of character, a pure and 
clean life, together with a .sunny disposition, marked conspicu- 
ously his whole career. Yes, he was honest, sober, industrious, 
and kind-hearted. His cheery disposition gave him friends 
wherever he went. 

He had the ear and confidence of his people, and justly .so, 
for he had a perfect code of morals and fully realized that the 
essence of every achievement is energy. By these adornments 
he grew, year by year, .stronger and stronger, gradually winning 
the hearts and prai.se of his fellow-citizens. So honestly, so 
faithfully, and with such true fidelity did he serve his people 
that he became a tower of strength with them. So thoroughly 
was he schooled in the principles of morality, and so closeh- did 
he walk with his God, that he was steeled against the enticing 
whispers of the serpent of temptation that .so frequently coils 
around and destroys so many of our public men. In his long 



Address of Mr. McLain of Mississippi. 23 

public career — be it said to his honor — he hved a sober, pure, 
and virtuous hfe, and a man thus crowned is the "finest fruit 
earth holds up to its Maker. ' ' 

Soon after entering political life he married Miss Julia Rai- 
ford, of Lil-ierty, Miss., who, with her beautiful and intellectual 
daughter, survives him. It is permissible in me to allude to 
him as a father and husband, or, as I might term it, as I saw 
him in his home circle. "Here is the heart's garden. Its 
sunshine and flowers are here." Truly, I can .say of him he 
planted and cultivated love, peace, and happiness in his home. 
But how could it be otherwi.se with a man who nourished 
virtue and fostered and sustained the commandments of his 
God? 

He was faithful to the tru.sts confided to him by the people. 
I feel sure that the members of this House who were nearest to 
him will bear testimony to this. A more faithful and pains- 
taking representative the Sixth Congressional district of the 
State of Mississippi never had. Could he have lived, he .surely 
would have developed into one of your strongest and most use- 
ful men. He was not a star, nor a genius; but he was indus- 
trious, painstaking, and energetic, and these qualities often win 
where genius fails. 

In religious belief he was a Baptist. He loved his church. 
He freely contributed to it his time and money. He served his 
church faithfully, but all good men were his brethren. He 
moved and acted upon a broad plane, feeling that all good men 
were Chri-stians. 

Having lived an honored, useful, and God-fearing life, com- 
manding the utmo.st respect from all, a grand success was his 
reward. 

He had just won the coveted prize of his life. He was 
flushed with hope and full of confidence. But this noble and 



24 Life a)id Character of William F. Love. 

beautiful life, all aglow with promise, was stricken in the noon 
of its supreme happiness and usefulness. He died rich in 
honors, at peace with his God, and with good will to all 
men. 

I contribute these humble words of praise to his memory, 
and place them as a garland of friendship upon his grave. 



Address of Mr. Caic/tiiigs of J/ississ/p/>i. 25- 



ADDRESS OF Mr CATCHINGS. 

Mr. Speaker, the lateness of the hour is such that nothing 
but the great regard and the warm personal friendship that I 
have so long entertained for nij- late distinguished colleague 
would induce me to take the floor. An intimate and extended 
personal acquaintance with Mr. LovE warrants me in agreeing 
most cordially- to the tribute which has just been so gracefully- 
paid to his memory by my colleague [Mr. McLain] , and I know 
that the people of Mississippi will do so likewise. 

Sir, the ancient proverb that "a prophet is not without honor 
save iu his own country ' ' can have no application in the case 
of my deceased friend. He died almost within bowshot of the 
place where he was born and reared. His life went out in a 
community which knew him well and thoroughly, in the county 
in which he had long resided, amidst the people at whose hands 
he had reaped his brightest and most distinguished honors. 
My acquaintance with him began very many years ago; so far 
back, indeed, that it is unpleasant to reflect upon how nuich of 
my life has passed away since then. 

We were young men, serving together in the legislature of 
our native State. I knew him then as a man of rare judgment 
and great aptitude and capacity for legislative work. His 
industry equaled that of any man I have ever known. His 
judgment and discrimination and accuracy of thought were 
even then developed to a notable degree, and when he took his 
seat here I said to him that he was better adapted to the pur- 
suit of legislative work than any other, and that I was confident 
he had an honorable and successful career before him. How 
little did he and I then dream that he was to be cut off almost 
before his Congressional career had begun! 



26 Life and Cliaractcr of William F. Love. 

He was singularly sincere and earnest. His temperament 
was ardent and generous. He was moved by the most refined 
.sensibilities; a candid friend, and a gentleman always. 

His devotion to such duties as devolved upon him was worthy 
of all praise. At the opening of this Congress I had the good 
fortune to draw a seat beside his. This made my intercourse 
with him close and constant, and the more intimate it grew the 
stronger became my regard and affection for him. 

I know, Mr. Speaker, that he was an ambitious man, not in 
the sense that he sought office merelj' as something which 
might reflect pensonal credit or distinction upon himself, but 
that he might win for him.self a name of which his friends 
and his family would be proud. It was a pleasure to him to 
feel that he was a leading man in his community. Indeed, 
I may say that he was always the leading man in every com- 
munity in which he lived. 

But what does it matter, Mr. Speaker that his career was 
cut short so suddenly ? If he had .survived I do not doubt that 
his experience would have been that which many have gone 
through. Public office is not .satisfying to the heart nor to the 
soul. ITntil a man secures an office he often feels that he 
would derive great happiness and pleasure from it, but when 
he has attained to it he realizes that he has graspeil a 
mere shadow. He then finds that office holding is hollow and 
heartless and comfortless. The public sen'ant who is faithful 
and devoted to his duties too rarel>' receives the credit to which 
he is entitled. 

There are ambitious men ever .seeking to .supplant him. His 
conduct is distorted and perverted by those who would have it 
so. It is impossible for those at his home to \i\\K. themselves in 
his place and understand his environments. It is impossible 
for them to have beating upon them the same light which 



Address of Mr. Ca/c/iiiios of' Mississippi. 27 

sheds its effulgent rays upon him, and so he staggers along, 
harassed and distressed, because he feels that he is misjudged. 
Conscious of his own rectitude, he feels that possibly he is 
alone in that consciousness. So public life, I do not hesitate 
to assert, is the most un.satisfying which a generous, an honest, 
and a conscientious man can lead. I speak this after long years 
of observation and reflection. My own constituents have hon- 
ored me far beyond my deserts, and in what I say I do not 
wish to be understood as reflecting upon them. It is simply 
the philosophy of the .situation to which I would give utterance. 

So it matters not to Mr. L,ovE, possibly it is best for him, 
that he was cut short in his career. Certainly at the time of 
his death there were none to criticise him. His con.stituents 
all admired and loved him. He had done nothing which had 
brought upon him their complaint or their condenniation, and 
he died in the full enjoyment of the regard of a large and 
intelligent con.stituency. 

Death, Mr. Speaker, should not be a terror. We must all 
come to it. No man has skill or power or .strength to avoid it. 
Certainly we should have the courage to encounter that which 
all have met who have gone before us and what all must face 
who come after us. What boots it whether a man's life is 
extended a few years or a few days or a few hours longer? In 
the midst of great eternity it is at its longest a mere breath, a 
mere second of time. I do not know at last if it ought not to 
be to his dearest friends a matter of congratulation that he 
ended his career at a time when the clouds of political adversity 
had not lowered upon him, when he felt that he was in full 
sympathy and accord with the constituents who had delighted 
to honor him, and when he knew that his departure would 
occasion the deepest regret to them all. 

Mr. Speaker, Mr. LovE would have become a distinguished 



28 Life and Character of W'illiatii F. Love. 

member of this House if he had Hved, not because he was a 
briUiant genius, though he was a man of a very high order of 
abihty, but because he was honest, he was faithful, he was 
ambitious, he was industrious, and he was true. Those are the 
elements which achieve firm and lasting success. The brilliant 
genius may shoot athwart the sky and shed the rays of the 
meteor, but, like the rays of the meteor, he soon pas,ses away 
and is as quickly forgotten. It is the patient toil, it is the 
deep digging for the solid foundation, Mr. Speaker, that 
achieves those results which find a lasting place. 

It was a source of great personal regret to me when I heard 
of Mr. Love's death. I was very much shocked. I did not 
even know that he had been sick, and yet he was almost a 
neighbor. So quiet and modest were he and his family that 
they had taken their grief, their trouble, and their sorrow to 
themselves; and it was but the day before his death that I saw 
a telegram speaking of his extreme illness. That was charac- 
teristic of him. He did not desire to adverti.se his suffering or 
his illness. As he had gone through life, modestl}-, taking his 
own burdens upon his own shoulders, so he, modestly, in his 
own home, with only his famil>' and friends around him, fought 
the last fight and passed over to his reward. 

I do not know, Mr. Speaker, that I need say more. What 
I have said has been spoken with all earnestness and with all 
sincerity. 



Address of Mr. U 'illianis of Mississippi. 29 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Williams of Mississippi. 

Mr. Speaker, I was so unfortunate as not to have enjoyed 
the acquaintance of my late colleague, William Franklin 
Love, until after he came to Washington in consequence of his 
election as a member of the Fifty-fifth Congress. This was not 
owing to the fact of any lack of prominence on the part of Mr. 
Love in the public affairs of the State of Mississippi. It was 
owing to the fact that I myself was l)ut little acquainted with 
the public men of my State, except those with whom I had 
been brought into association by my election and service here 
as a member of Congress. 

Mr. Love, on the other hand, had long been one of the most 
influential factors in pulilic life at home. He was barely of 
age when he became a member of the Mississippi legislature. 
In that capacity he spent ten years of exceptional usefulness 
and exceptional popularity, when he became a State senator 
and impressed himself upon the legislation of the State for 
eight years more. 

When the people of Mississippi, confronted hy unprece- 
dented conditions, seeking a solution of a seemingly insoluble 
problem, under the leadership of "The Great Commoner," 
J. Z. George, had determined to hold a constitutional conven- 
tion, they determined that it should be composed of the wi.sest 
and best of Mississippi's sons, and Mr. LovE was elected by 
his section of the State as one of the members of that great 
convention. It was a great convention, because it succeeded 
in a most difficult work, and succeeded in such a way as that 
the result achieved could be defended in the face of the world 
as fair and honest and intelligent and ju.st. Mr. LovE was one 



30 Life and Character of William F. Love. 

of the most useful and industrious of the members of that 
convention. 

I knew him, however, as a member of Congress, where I was 
thrown with him very constantly. I sought his advice ver\- 
frequently, and found his counsel alwaj-s valuable, becau.se he 
possessed that tact which enables a public man, while standing 
firmly to his own convictions and working steadily for their 
enactment into legislation, to do so without wounding the feel- 
ings or rasping the prejudices of those who entertain different 
opinions. 

He was elected to the Fifty- fifth Congress as a Democrat, 
serving most creditably his first term. Notwithstanding the 
lack of opportunity for prominence or for usefulness which 
accompanies the position of a new member, it soon became 
evident to all of us that Mr. LovE was peculiarly useful in that 
special work which fell to the charge of his committee, and 
which, therefore, especially attracted his attention as a member. 
We could follow him .safely on all questions brought into the 
House from his committee. He had been renominated by his 
people without opposition and with a unanimity of sentiment 
seldom equaled, and his election to the Fifty-sixth Congress 
was prevented only by the fact that his untimelj' death inter- 
vened between his nomination and the date of the general 
election. 

He was suave, urbane, polite, of an evenness of temper 
which I scarcely ever knew excelled. He was at the same 
time pronounced in his convictions, .scarcely ever hesitating 
about a vote or the position which he owed it to him.self and 
his constituents to take, never wavering after he had formed a 
determination. He was industrious to an extent beyond most 
men. 

He was conscientious in his attention to the details of his 



Address of Mr. Williams of Mississippi. 31 

duties as a Representative on the floor, in the committee 
room, and in attention to his correspondence. A man of most 
remarkably regular habits, his Congressional life went on like 
clockwork, with a regular time for each character of dutv. 
When the House opened, he sat as if chained to his seat until 
the House adjourned. I regret that I did not know better the 
private side of his life. But even my scant acquaintance with 
it was enough to teach me that his domestic relations were 
of the happiest kind. 

The affection of the members of his family for him, their 
confidence in him, was evident to the most casual obser\-er. 
He lived, as Southern men in public life generally do, so 
that at the end of tweiity-fi\-e years of public service he was 
no wealthier than when he began. There was no opportu- 
nity to make money legitimately in the field of work which 
he had chosen. He therefore made none. While his con- 
stituents and his people will regret the fact that he died poor, 
they will be proud of it as a demonstration of his integrity 
and will remember it to his credit and to the credit of his 
descendants. 



32 Life and Characier of U'il/iain F. Love. 



Address of Mr. Henry of Mississippi. 

Mr. Speaker, I rise to saj- a few words in commemoration of 
m)- friend and colleague, the Hon. \V. F. LovE, late Repre- 
sentative from the Sixth district of Mississippi in this the 
Fift3--fifth Congress. 

Knowing him as I did and admiring him for his many noble 
traits of character, I feel that I can truly say of him that he 
was in every way worthy of the confidence of his people and 
of the respect of his fellow-members. 

Quietly and unostentatiously he pursued the even tenor of his 
way, hearkening only to the voice of duty as he understood it. 
He may have had faults, but had more of virtues. He was my 
friend, and I prefer to remember the latter. 

It seems but a short time since at the end of the last session 
of this Congress I bade him farewell in the fullness of health. 
With a consciousness of duty well performed he hastened to his 
family and constituency to receive the well-earned plaudit of 
"Well done, good and faithful servant." 

Appreciating his devoted service here, his district, without 
opposition, renominated him to the Fifty -.sixth Congress. 

Life was but opening to him; he .seemed strong and vigorous, 
and his friends predicted for him a long and useful career in that 
field to which they had sent him as their representative. But, 
alas! " Man proposes, but God disposes." 

On the Sth day of October, 1898, at his home in Gloster, 
Amite County, Miss., after a brief struggle with di.sease. Death 
claimed him "for his own." 

During his short career in Congress he had won the respect 
and confidence of his fellow members, and I dare sav no one 



Address of Mr. Henry of Mississippi. 2>2> 

of them heard of his untimeh- death without genuine and un- 
feigned sorrow. 

As a member of the Committee on the Post-0£Ece and Post- 
Roads he was painstaking, vigilant, and laborious, bringing to 
his work intelligence, earnestness, and ability. On the floor 
of the House, in discussing the bill offered by the committee 
as a representative of the minority, he won the admiration 
even of those opposed to him b>- his thorough familiarity with 
the questions involved; and to his incessant labor and lucid 
presentations, more than to any other, is the country indebted 
for the defeat of the bill. 

His dignified bearing, his earnestne.ss, and his devotion at 
all times demanded the attention of the House. He put on 
foot measures, which have since matured, of great consequence 
to his district, bringing to the hitherto neglected Gulf coast 
and other points that relief they had long prayed for in vain. 

His high moral character, his gentle deportment, his close 
attention to duty were characteristics of his .service. I have 
never >'et heard a single member make a remark derogator}- of 
him, but have often heard from his late associates the highest 
expressions of regard. 

To me, who perhaps knew Mr. LovE better than any of our 
delegation, his death was inexpre.ssibl)- sad. Our lines had 
somewhat fallen together. In 1878 we served together in the 
legislature of Mississippi , in the lower hou.se, and again in iSgo, 
Mr. Love then being in the senate. In November, 1890, we 
served again together in the constitutional convention. In 
those days he brought to his duty the same devotion which 
marked his career as a member of this body. 

When he was elected to this Congress he was chairman of 
the finance committee of the State senate. His record as such 
attests his fidelity. 

H. Doc. 273 3 



34 



Life and Character of William F. Love. 



We entered this Congress together; how Httle did I think 
then that I would be called upon to perform this sad duty. 
He was my friend for man)' years and I can pay hira no higher 
tribtite than to say that during those years he was true to 
ever)' trust, and never betrayed a friend nor lowered his crest 
to an enemy. His word was his bond, his integrity was tni- 
questionable, his worth beyond measure. 

He leaves a wife and daughter, to whom he was devoted, 
who, in the years that are to come, will long "for the touch 
of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that is still." 
May the good God shield and protect them. 

No truer man .sleeps beneath Mississippi .soil. Peace to his 
ashes. 



Address of Air. Ferguson of New Mexico. 35 



Address of Mr. Fergusson. 

Mr. Speaker, as a new member of the Fifty-fifth Congress, I 
became acquainted with Hon. William Franklin Love, 
whose death came in the very midst of his strength and use- 
fulness. I had most favorable opportunities to observe the 
methods and to study the character of this most conscientious 
public servant, for we were both members of the Committee on 
the Post-Office and Post-Roads, sat side by side at the table of 
that important committee, and often served on the same sub- 
committee, and now, when, in accordance with the long-estab- 
lished and appropriate custom, we, his fellow-members, meet to 
do honor to the memory of our deceased friend and pay tribute 
to his worth as a man and as a legislator, I shall enter upon no 
extended eulogy, for there are many others more able than I 
waiting to do that, but shall content myself with recording what 
I observed to be his most marked characteristic as a servant of 
his people and a member of this great body. 

An ever present and most imperious sense of duty Mr. LovE 
exhibited on every occasion. In the obscure and little appre- 
ciated labor of the subcommittee he was always present; he 
scanned and thoroughly mastered the scope of every bill sub- 
mitted, and while exhibiting liberality and common sense in 
considering every proposition, he yet was inflexibly firm when 
his mind was made up. In full committee, where all subcom- 
mittee work must be reviewed, he was active, alert, inqui-sitive, 
and most useful; and when antagonism arose, and the cla,sh of 
debate followed, Mr. L,ovE showed himself to be a man of wide 
information and an advocate of great force and persuasiveness. 
It did not take a prophet to see that, had our friend been spared, 
he would have attained great distinction. The true door to 



36 Life and Cliaracto of ll'/7/iti»i F. Love. 

distinction in this bod}*, as I observe, is the mastery of the 
details of the various subjects of legislation. 

The strong men we see around us in this House who are 
shaping things, everj' one of them show the mastery of details 
which proves the possession of that very laboriousness and de- 
votion to duty which was so prominent a characteristic of the 
subject of this tribute. It is bound to bring prominence; and 
with him prominence would have brought the increased and 
ever-increasing esteem of his fellow-citizens, for he was also a 
man of unmixed integrity, a gentle and lovable companion, a 
pure-minded, brave, and Christian gentleman. 

The Speaker. In obedience to a vote of the House already 
taken, the Chair declares, as a further mark of respect to Mr. 
Love, late a member of this House, the House now stands ad- 
journed until Monday at 11 o'clock a. m. 



Proceedings in the Senate. 

March 2, 1899. 

Mr. Money. I ask the chair to lay before the Senate the 
resoUition of the Hou.se of Representatives relative to my late 
colleague in the House of Representatives, Mr. LovE. 

The Presiding Officer. The Chair lays before the Senate 
the resolutions of the House of Representatives, which will be 
read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows : 

In the House of Representatives, 

February 25, i8gg. 

Whereas the House of Representatives has heard with pro- 
found sorrow of the death of the Hon. W. F. LovE, late a 
Representative from the State of Mississippi: Therefore, be it^ 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended 
that opportunity may be given for tributes to the memory of 
the late Representative W. F. Love, and as a particular mark 
of respect to the memory of the late Representative LovE, and 
in recognition of his eminent abilities and distinguished public 
services, the House, at the conclusion of the,se memorial pro- 
ceedings, shall stand adjourned. 

That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the family 
of the late Representative LovE; and 

That the clerk be ordered to communicate these resolutions 
to the Senate. 

Mr. Money. Mr. President, I submit the resolutions I send 
to the desk. 

The Presiding Officer. The resolutions will be read. 

37 



38 Life and Character of William F. Love. 

The Secretar}' read the resolutions, as follows : 

Resolved. That the vSenate has heard with profound sorrow 
the announcement of the death of the Hon. William F. Love, 
late a Representative from the State of Mississippi. 

Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended 
in order that fittinp; tribute be paid to his memorj-. 

Resolved, That the Secretary be directed to communicate a 
copy of these resolutions to the House of Representatives. 



Address of Mr. Money of Mississippi. 39 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES. 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Money. 

Mr. President, in the last few weeks almost daily memorial 
services have been held in this Capitol in honor of the dead of 
this Congress. We have become familiarized with eulogies, 
and only when the stroke comes home and one is called upon to 
speak the sentiments of affection and respect is our loss fully 
realized. It is, perhaps, a wise provision that the poignancy of 
sorrow is mitigated and shortened by the constant diversion 
made by the calls of our official business. 

We bur>- our dead, we la}' our offerings of flowers upon the 
tomb, we moralize, we speak of the certainty of death, we think 
with softened hearts of our friend who has gone down into his 
narrow house, and, turning to the world, resume our work and 
give our minds seriously to other things, yet taking occasion- 
ally retro-spective glimpses of the departed friend, and in the 
struggle and unrest of our labors we sigh ' ' for the touch of a 
vani.shed hand, and the sound of a voice that is still." 

In the press of liu.siness — business that mu.st be done in the 
closing hours of the session — we have put aside the usual order 
to attest by our tributes the virtues and excellences of Wil- 
liam Franklin Love, late a Representative in Congress from 
the State of Mississippi. He was born in Amite County, Miss., 
April 26, 1852, and died October 16, 1898, at the place of his 
birth. This part of the State was the earliest settled, and the 
pioneers were of the best stock of the older States. The family 
of Mr. Love enjoyed the esteem and respect of all who knew 
them. 

He was heir neither to affiuence nor poverty, and toiled upon 



40 Life and Character of W^illiam F. Love. 

the farm as much on account of an indtistrious disposition as of 
the res angusta domi. He had the advantage of good country 
schools and completed his education at the University of Missis- 
sippi. His farm life gave him moral, physical, and intellectual 
robustness and health. Entering upon the duties of manhood 
he took an active interest in all public affairs, and his aptitude 
for public business gave him an important part in popular 
movements, especially tho.se concerning the agriculturist. 

He served ten years in the house of representatives and eight 
3'ears in the senate of his State legislature, and was a member 
of the constitutional convention of 1890, in which he was a 
most intelligent and efficient worker, and by his familiarity with 
legislative btisiness, his sound good sense, and his knowledge of 
the necessities of the situation, contributed largely to the suc- 
cess of that great work. 

He was elected a member of this Congress, and was unani- 
mously nominated by his party to .succeed himself, and had 
begun his canvass when seized b\- the fever which terminated 
his honorable and useful life. 

Mr. Love had a gentle and amiable disposition, a high sense 
of duty, delicate moral perceptions, and strong religious convic- 
tions which governed absolutely all his conduct. One of his 
strongest characteristics was his trustworthiness. No one ever 
relied upon him in vain. He was kind-hearted and sympathetic 
with the poor, the weak, and the afflicted. "He was as open 
as the day to melting charity." Though amiable, he was firm; 
and though conciliatory, he was resolute. No fear of public or 
pri\-ate displeasure or opposition ever swerved him a hair's 
breadth from the line of duty laid down for him by a discrimi- 
nating judgment and a tender conscience. 

He was ambitious, not for the mere .selfish enjoyment of 
honors, but to win the applause of the good; to gratify his 



Address of Mr. Money of Mississippi. 41 

family and friends; to be useful in his day and generation. 
' ' His ambition never stooped its wing to any lower flight than 
this." He was a member of the Baptist Church, adhering 
strictly to the doctrines of that great evangelical denomination. 
He believed fully the inspirations of the holy Scriptures, ne\-er 
was harassed by any doubts, declined all controversy, and 
steadily pursued a consistent Christian life, leaving polemics 
to other minds. 

He was very happy in his domestic relations, and was a ten- 
der and devoted husband to a lovely and accomplished wife, an 
indulgent and considerate father to a beautiful daughter, and 
what he gave of love to them they repaid him in kind from the 
exhaustless fertility of the female heart. He was an excellent 
husband and father, neighbor and friend, citizen and public 
official, and went his way performing his duty as he conceived 
it in all these relations with a singleness of heart, a steadiness 
of purpose, a fidelity and conscientiousness, that justified the 
compliments and admiration of all who came within the sphere 
of his acquaintance. 

To a man of the world it seems hard that Mr. LovE should 
have died in the vigor of a life whose promise was still crescent, 
when he had achieved the object of his ambition, and with 
increasing zeal was laboring for distinction by good works, when 
a long career seemed open before him. Of what avail the study, 
the struggle, the triumph? But to the Christian such as he 
was, how willingly he resigned earthly honors for the joyous 
assurances of a future life. 

He had walked uprightly before God and man, and he knew 
it. His reward was certain, and he knew it; and, save the pang 
of separation from his beloved, he went into the "valley of the 
shadow of death ' ' supported by that rod and staff which God 
had given to comfort him. 



I 



42 Life and Character of William F. Love. 

This good man was my friend, and I loved him. It is said 
that every man has his vice. I never found any in him. If 
faults he had, they were not grave enough to sully his honor or 
dim his purity. In that pleasant land where he was born, 
reared, and died, under the pines which hold solemn whispers 
with the soft Gulf wind over his tomb, he sleeps, awaiting the 
la.st .summons. 



Address of Air. Berry of Arkansas. 43 



ADDRESS OF MR. BERRY. 

Mr. President, I met Mr. LovE for the first time in the early 
days of the first session of the present Congress. I became 
acquainted with him because General Walthall, with whom 
I was very intimately associated, knew Mr. LovE well and 
liked him much, and he desired that I .should know him. 

Mr. Love was deeply interested, at the time when I knew 
him, in certain acts and contemplated laws with reference to the 
health of the country. He was deeply anxious that some law 
should be passed which would adjust the differences and diffi- 
culties and aid in some way to keep off that greatest of all 
scourges, yellow fever, from the southern portion of our Re- 
public. In consequence of this I had frequent interviews with 
General Walthall and Mr. LovE. 

He impressed me as a quiet, mode.st, and unobtru,sive gentle- 
man, yet a very earnest and energetic Representative, anxious 
to .serve the people of the State of Mississippi, more anxious to 
accomplish something than to parade him.self before the coun- 
try. He was not a man who sought notoriety by newspaper 
advertisement. He cared more to perform acts for the people 
who had trusted him and to comply, as far as it was proper to 
do, with all their requests rather than to seek to make a national 
reputation. 

I met him at the Departments and I met him here, and he 
was always earnest and active in trying to .serve the people 
of Mississippi. As I .said, he w^as a modest, unobtrusive gentle- 
man. He was a man who impres.sed me as one who would 
never willingly woinid the feelings of any human being, yet 
withal a man who would suffer no indignity and would permit 
no injtistice to him.self or the people he represented. 



44 i-^fi '^'i(^ Character of U^illiam F. Love. 

He went from here in July last. He was afterwards unani- 
mously renominated by the people of his district to a seat in 
the next Congress. . He had served his State in the legisla- 
ture for a period of eighteen years, which showed how fondly 
they were attached to him and what great confidence they 
had in his integrity and ability. He had been ambitious to 
come to Congress, and that ambition had been gratified. 

He made acquaintances and friends here, and he learned the 
manner of doing business. He went home and was full of 
hope that during the next session he would be able to accom- 
plish the great purpose which would contribute to the health 
and happiness of the people he represented. He went from 
here full of life, full of hope, and full of health, and to-day, 
Mr. President, he sleeps beneath the magnolias of southern 
Mississippi, that beautiful land where summer is almost per- 
petual and the flowers scarcely ever cease to bloom. 

And while it may be that here in the activity and rush of 
life his memory will soon pass away, yet with those — his 
neighbors and friends — who knew him best, with the wife and 
the daughter, who loved him most, the memory of the genial 
and courteous and kindly gentleman, the tender husband, the 
indulgent father, will be cherished for many years to come. 



Address of Mr. Pasco of Florida. 45 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Pasco. 

Mr. President, les.s than two weeks ago the ordinary business 
of the Senate was laid aside to pay tributes of respect to the 
memory of a distinguished Representative, who was born and 
hved in an atmosphere of comfort and hixury, with all the 
surroundings that wealth and culture can afford. After ob- 
taining a liberal education at a famous seat of learning, 
instead of a life of ease and mere enjoyment, he devoted 
himself to the public service, entered the arena of political life, 
and after an apprenticeship among his home people in his 
town and county and an experience in the two houses of his 
State legi-slature, the citizens of his district rewarded him with 
the distinction, which is the dream of every ambitious young 
American, of a seat in the National Congress. Here he dis- 
charged his duties with zeal and fidelity, and maintained an 
honorable rank among his associates; but while life was full 
of promise and the future apparently had much in store for 
him, the end came and he was cut off in the midst of his 
usefulness. 

To-day we are here to honor the memory of another Rep- 
resentative who reached the same goal of ambition, but under 
greater difficulties and with more toilsome steps. William 
Franklin Love was born and brought up on a farm in Miss- 
issippi, was early taught to labor, followed the plow, and 
accustomed himself to all the details of plantation life during 
his minority. But he had an eager desire for knowledge and 
an aspiration for a life of usefulness and honor. He attended 
the sessions of the schools in his neighborhood when they 
were open to him, and with diligent effort, as opportunities 
were presented, pursued the studies necessary for admission 



46 Life and Character of William F. Love. 

to the University of Mississippi, where he enjoyed the educa- 
tional advantages which fitted him for his future career. 

Upon the completion of his course he stood at the threshold 
of active life, and it may be profitable to consider his situation 
and compare it with that of his former associate to whom I 
have already referred. Their lives had been far apart in their 
early youth; their surroundings had greatly differed; narrow 
circtnnstances and hard conditions had not discouraged the one, 
wealth and abundance had not enervated the other. Each was 
a type of our American citizenship and was endowed with his 
special traits and characteristics. 

The}- followed like careers, and, notwithstanding the different 
routes by which they had reached manhood, they traveled for 
many years on parallel lines along the journey of life, as the 
subsequent history of Mr. Love will show when compared with 
the other life which I have briefly outlined. 

He had scarce reached his majority when he was chosen as a 
representative of his county in the legislature of his State, and 
he rendered such faithful and satisfactory ser\-ice that he was 
contiiuied there for ten years, and was then elected and reelected 
until he had served eight years longer in the State senate. 

In 1890 the people of Mississippi held a convention to revi.se 
their State constitution. A hard and bitter experience had 
taught them the evils of misgovernment, and after mature 
deliberation they had determined to follow the example of other 
States in other sections and eliminate the ignorant and vicious 
from the xoting citizenship. Our late and honored associate, 
Senator J. Z. George, devoted his efforts and great learning to 
this important work. 

So important did he regard it that he consented to become a 
member of this convention, and I remember well when he asked 
for a leave of absence from his .senatorial work so that he niijrht 



Address of Mr. Pasco of Florida. 47 

assist ill working out the great problem his people desired to 
solve The different constituencies sought out their ablest and 
most trusted men to send to this body, and Amite County, that 
had so long honored and trusted Mr. LovE, chose him as one 
of her delegates. His great ability and ripe experience were 
valuable to the convention, and he took -an influential part in 
its deliberations and work, which were brought to a satisfactory 
and successful conclusion. 

He was again in the State senate, at the head of one of its 
most important committees, when he was elected to the House of 
Representatives, and took his seat at the opening of the Fifty- 
fifth Congress. As we all know, our line of work here is largely 
determined by oiar committee assignments. Mr. LovE was ap- 
pointed upon the Committee on the Post-OflHce and Post-Roads, 
and he devoted himself most industriously to all the details of 
this great subject, and was ready at all times to discuss them 
clearly and intelligently when they came before the House. 
His associates in the committee and upon the floor bear testi- 
mony to his industry, his accuracy, his reliability, his u.sefiUness. 

It was my good fortune to be brought into intimate and 
friendly relations with him and his family early in his Congres- 
sional life. We met daily under the same roof during all the 
time he was in attendance upon the House. I soon learned to 
regard and esteem him, to enjoy his conversation, to value his 
opinions, to take pleasure in his society. He had a kind word 
for all with v/hom he came in contact, and no one could know 
him long without being impressed with his sincerity. 

We parted at the close of the long session in Jidy last, and he 
returned to his people. He had made a good beginning of his 
Congressional work, had secured the confidence and respect of 
his associates, and it was evident to his colleagues that if con- 
tinued in the public service he would continue to grow in influ- 



48 Life ami Character of WilliaDi F. Love. 

ence and strength, and that his integrity, his industry, his 
methods of careful investigation, his readiness in debate would 
secure him a high position in the membership of the House. 

Physically, he appeared to be vigorous and strong, with a fair 
prospect of long life. The future looked bright, and there were 
no clouds visible in the horizon. His constituents welcomed 
him home and expressed their appreciation of his services by a 
unanimous renomination, the highest and most gratifying trib- 
ute that can be paid to a public servant. Soon after he was 
stricken with a mortal disease, and his promising career was 
brought to a sudden close about three weeks before the day to 
which he had looked hopefully forward when he had good rea- 
son to expect a reelection by an almost unanimous \-ote. 

His sudden removal was a serious blow to the State of Miss- 
issippi, but especially to the people of the district wliich he 
repre.sented and to the large circle of friends and admirers who 
had for so many years given him a loyal and cordial support. 
It is proper that I .should refer also to the loss su.stained by his 
family. He was their stay and comfort, a considerate and affec- 
tionate husband, a kind and indulgent father. His home life 
was full of contentment and happiness and quiet enjoyment, 
and the dear ones who shared it with him suffered in his death 
a loss that is irreparable. 

In paying this last tribute of respect to our departed friend, 
it is pleasant to reflect that he left behind him the record of a 
well-.spent life, full of good deeds, of noble thoughts, of lofty 
aspirations. But these aspirations were not all limited to the 
present life. He looked forward to a higher and better life 
beyond the grave, and we may indulge the hope and belief that, 
if his earthly plans and expectations were not all realized, he 
has entered upon a realization of the higher hopes and aspira- 
tions to which he looked forward in the great hereafter. 



Address of Mr. Tnriey of Tennessee. 49 



ADDRESS OF Mr. TURLEY. 

Mr. President, I never had the pleasure of a personal acquaint- 
ance with Mr. Love, but I have passed my whole life within a 
short distance of the State of Mississippi, and the relations 
between the people of that State and the citizens among whom 
I have lived have been extremely close and cordial, and in this 
way, through mutual friends, I learned of Mr. LovE before I 
ever came to the Senate. 

But, Mr. President, if I had never heard of Mr. LovE until 
to-night, and 1 were then told as I am to-night that he ser\^ed 
the people of Mississippi in public office for more than twenty 
years, that he won their confidence and was called b_v them into 
public position when he was but little beyond 21 years of age, I 
would have known that he was a man far beyond the common, 
of sterling qualities and of capacity. I say this, Mr. President, 
because I know so well the people of Missis.sippi . That State 
was settled by the best blood of Virginia and the older States, 
gallant, adventurous, high-minded men, and the comnuniity 
those people built up has been equally gallant and high minded. 

Mississippi has always been represented bj- men of high 
capacity. No man has attained to public office and retained it 
for any number of years in that State unless he was a man of 
marked capacity. It has had cue of the best supreme courts in 
this Union, a court which has had honor shed upon it by such 
names as Sharkey. Yerger, Handy, Ellett, and others.. It has 
always been represented in Congress, where the Representatives 
have continued to hold office for any length of time, by men of 
the highest character. 

It has furnished to Congress probably the greatest orator this 
H. Doc. 273 4 



I 

4 



50 Life and Character of William F. Love. 

country has ever known — the famous Prentiss — and the mem- 
bers of this body who have represented it have shed glor}' and 
luster not only over their own State, but also over the whole 
country. When I mention such names as Davis and Lamar 
and George and the lamented Walthall, whom we all lo\-ed 
so well and mourn so deeply, the class of men who have for 
years occupied public positions as the representatives of Missis- 
sippi becomes obvious. 

Hence when I turn to the facts and see that Mr. LovE had 
been honored by a people like that of Mississippi for so long a 
time in public position, had served them so long in their State 
legislature and .so faithfully in the State con.stitutional conven- 
tion, and then was elected to Congress, I know that he was 
everything that his friends depict him — a truthful, honest, 
gallant, capable gentleman, a good citizen, and a faithful public 
servant. If his years had been prolonged, I am sure he would 
have shed honor on his State and his services would have been 
valuable both to his own State and to the Union. In his death, 
his State not only sustains a great loss, but our countrj- sustains 
equally a great loss. 



Address of Mr. Sullivan of Mississippi. 51 



Address of Mr. Sullivan. 

Mr. President, we meet to-day to paj' the last tribute to him 
who in the midst of a useful and busy life has heard the whis- 
per, "Come with me." For the moment we stand amazed at 
the suddenness of his taking off, agha.st at its remarkablene.ss ! 
Yet the ancient visitor, Time, with his bony fingers and his 
unrelenting scythe, beckons, Come ! This strange, sad .scene is 
often enacted. And still I feel that I would throw wide the 
windows, sing the sweetest song, bring the brightest flowers. 
Flowers, not crape; hosannas, not dirges, should greet us to-day. 

If a pure life is a perfect title to mansions in the sky, where 
the heartsick, the weary, may find rest ; where this fretful fever 
ceases and the ro.seate light of morning never dies, and death 
alone gives us this possession, God quicken its coming and 
bless its eternal stay ! 

I do not share the view of those who feel that death is always 
a thing to be dreaded. I do not feel that it is the greatest 
calamity that can befall us. Life is but a poor boon at be.st, 
with its sorrows, its heartaches, its discouragements and 
disappointments. Tell me, ye philosophers, who shall drop a 
plummet to the bottom of a sigh? Who shall analyze a single 
tear? And still these .shadows soften and give rich and sweet 
chance to do some kindly act for our fellow-man — that which is 
right, high, and noble ; to lift the humble, to help the poor, to 
heal the wounds, to minister to the afflicted. Sweet, sacred 
privileges ! 

While we meditate upon his life, peaceful, serene, manly, and 
true, we recall that he was so well poised mentally and so strong 
morally that he was not disturbed by the clamor of factions, the 
appeals of zealots, nor intimidated by those who hold sway. 



52 Life and Character of William F. Love. 

Strong in the power that comes from a conscience clear and 
unstained, he dared at all times to do his duty, let the conse- 
quences be what they may. 

And so it was that his people, the people of his childhood, of 
his youth, of his manhood, watching all the while, and lietter 
still, approving, applauding, raised him higher, and still yet 
higher, to the place from which death alone dethroned him. 

He is indeed gone. The kind-hearted neighbor and friend, 
the prudent legislator, the wise and ever watchful statesman has 
passed from the light of this life to the mysteries of the un.seen 
world, of which we know so little ! Blessed be the peace that 
bides him. 

From the heart that may ache, yet can not break, I wish him 
God's best welcome, for surely he is worthy. 

From the fireside and out of the home life the friend, the 
father, the husband has taken his eternal leave. 

Yet it is our sweet privilege to know that he was one of those 
who so lived that when the final .summons came " he wrapped 
the drapery of his couch around him and laid down to pleasant 
dreams. ' ' 

His influence and the impre.ss of his life, labor, and character 
will live when those of us gather here to pay the last tribute to 
his memory shall have folded our arms in the last long sleep. 

As a pebble dropped in the placid bosom of the sleeping lake 
awakens the waves that widen, and yet grow wider still, till 
they reach the farthest shore, so his gentle, earnest, manly, 
Christian life shall live and speak to the coming sons of men 
and find echo in their better lives. 

There be those who, in the perplexity of the hard lives in 
which their lines have fallen in this tempestuous life, fret, fume, 
and even doubt "the divinity that shapes our ends," and ques- 
tion whether, after the evening shadows come, there be sunlight 



Address of Mr. SnUivan of Mississippi. 53 

beyond ; the trial is too- severe, the attenuated thread breaks, 
and hfe is, with its golden fruitage, lost. The life of \Vii,liam 
F. Love was a triumph over this desperation, and shone like a 
beacon light to the mariner upon the storm-beaten shore. 

His life and example only illustrate the thought so beauti- 
fully expressed by another : 

It can not be that earth is man's only abiding place. It can 
not be that our life is a bubble, cast up by the ocean of eternity, 
to float another moment upon its .surface, and then sink into 
nothingness and darkness forever. Else why is it that the high 
and glorious aspirations, which leap like angels from the temples 
of our hearts, are forever wandering abroad unsatisfied ? 

Why is it that the rainbow and the cloud come over us with 
a beauty that is not of earth, and then pass off and leave us to 
mtise on their faded loveliness? 

Why is it that the stars, which hold their festival around the 
midnight throne, are set above the grasp of our limited facul- 
ties and are forever mocking us with their unapproachable 
glory? Finally, why is it that bright forms of human beauty 
are presented to the view and then taken from us, leaving the 
thousand streams of the affections to flow back in an Alpine 
torrent upon our hearts? 

We are born of a higher destiny than that of earth. There 
is a realm where the rainbow never fades, where the stars will 
be spread out before us like the islands that slumber on the 
ocean, and where the beautiful beings that here pass before us 
like visions will stay in our presence forever. 

Riches were not among his possessions; nor did he court the 
favor of the great. He .simply and modestly walked the paths 
of virtue and of duty as his God gave him light to .see that duty, 
trusting that the final end could bring to him no harm. 

His work as a member of the State legislature of Mississippi 
for ten years, and of the State senate for eight years, and of 
Congress for nearly two years, attests the real merit of the man 



54 J^Jfa cifi(f Character of William F. Love. 

and the high esteem in v.'hich he was held by those who knew 
him best. 

No language can describe the nearer and tender relations of 
husband and father. Here the scene deepens; the curtain is 
drawn, and we would not if we could invade these sacred pre- 
cincts of the heart, for this is hallowed ground. 

Generous, earnest, honest, and true in every relation of life, 
"he added to the sum of human joy, and were everyone for 
whom he did some loving service to bring a blossom to his grave 
he to-night would sleep beneath a wilderness of flowers. ' ' 

William Franklin Love, honored son of Mississippi, whose 
heart was attuned to the sweet zephyrs of her sunny laud, fare- 
well! farewell! 

Mr. President, I ask for the adoption of the resolutions. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 

Mr. Sullivan. I move that the Senate, in further token of 
respect to our deceased brother, adjourn until ii o'clock to- 
morrow. 

O 



// 



